A world without Sam Fisher in Splinter Cell is not a world I want to live in

I can't imagine the Splinter Cell series without Sam Fisher as the protagonist. It would be like 24 not having Jack Bauer. It would be like the Bourne series without Jason Bourne. Luckily, Ubisoft is planning to bring Sam Fisher to next-gen consoles, according to art director of Splinter Cell Blacklist, Scott Lee.

Lee said in an interview with Arabic Gamers, "Sam Fisher and Splinter Cell [are] a big and very important franchise for Ubisoft, and yes they do support the franchise. Obviously we're working very hard on current-gen systems and we're super excited that we're going to be across all platforms.

"For next-gen there are a lot of plans in the works, obviously we can't talk about that at the moment but I definitely look forward to seeing Sam in new adventures, bigger and better as we go along. Sam will be back."

That's great news. Splinter Cell is one of my favorite series, and Sam Fisher is a great character. Of course, the latest in the Tom Clancy franchise is Splinter Cell Blacklist, which launches August 20 for Wii U, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC.

You can follow Senior Editor Lance Liebl on Twitter @Lance_GZ. He likes talking sports, video games, movies, and the stupidity of celebrities. Email at LLiebl@GameZone.com